People have been twisting balloons into squeaky little animals for decades, but Willy Chyr's work marks an evolution in the craft. Instead of dogs and bunnies, he makes gigantic, science-inspired sculptures of jellyfish, neurons, and zooids. Huh?

Chyr, who has degrees in economics and physics, learned the art of balloon-twisting at Le Vorris & Vox Circus. His most recent project is Balluminescence, a collection of huge balloon sculptures modeled on creatures that generated their own light through bioluminescence.

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The project's pièce de résistance was a giant jellyfish, constructed from over a 1000 balloons. A friend recorded this time lapse video of Chyr and his cohorts installing the creature in Chicago's Millenium Park last Fall:

The Millenium Park event, entitled Balluminescence - Lights, Balloons, Jellyfish!, was commissioned by Science Chicago and taught kids about jellyfish biology, as well as how to make some balloon animals of their own. Undoubtedly, some kids had trouble with the tricky process, and were told, "there, there, say 'please,' and I'm sure the nice man will make you a zooplankton." [Willy Chyr via It's Nice That]